Something's Gotten into the Corn
by Kit-CK
Summary: Strange things are afoot in the Kansas corn, and it's up to Clark and Lex to solve it.


  
Title: Something's Gotten into the Corn   
Rating: PG   
Disclaimer: Clark, Lex and all the rest do not belong to me, and I'm not making any money off of this.

Author: Kit_CK

Archive: Sure just let me know where

Feedback: Would love at kit_ck@hotmail.com

Just a note, this story is not to be taken too seriously. Just thought that I would have fun with some of the quirks of the show itself...ie. every problem stems from kryptonite.   
Thanks to my amazing sister N. for betaing and for just being quirky old you!   
Enjoy :)

  
Something's Gotten into the Corn   
   
  
It was a dark and stormy night. The shutters on Farmer Peabody's whitewashed home flapped open in the wind, slamming repeatedly against the side of the house. With a sigh he tossed back his covers and crossed the room to firmly secure them, taking a second to appreciate the awe inspiring site of the storm lighting up the Kansas sky. His eyes narrowed as he caught sight of a strange movement out near the cornfields. There was definitely something in his crops.   
  
'Damn gophers – got into the fields again'.   
  
He figured that he was up anyway. Pulling out his custom made shotgun – custom made when the meteoroid had crashed near by and given him a sixth finger back in 83 - he loaded it up with two casings of pellets. Tonight he only planned on scaring those bastards, send some metal flying over their heads. Grabbing his slicker he tossed it over his shoulders and headed out into the late summer rainstorm.   
  
By the time he reached the cornfield, his boots were already heavy with the loamy Kansas mud, his hands wet and slippery on the winchester. Pushing aside the first rows he entered the field, scanning the ground for any sign of the gophers. He was almost half way into the corn when he heard a strange sound coming from his right. Cocking his rifle he was about to fire off his warning shots when the sound came again, this time from behind him. He turned quickly, his eyes widening in surprise.   
  
"What the hell-" he never managed to finish that thought - his feet slipping in the thick mud as he scrambled to bring his gun to bear on a new target. He wasn't fast enough, and the last thing he heard before he died was the rustling of corn.   
  
  
++++++++++

  
"What do you think his interest is in all of this?"   
  
From across the street, Jonathan Kent had caught sight of Lex lounging nonchalantly against his Porsche. His bald head and tailored suit causing him to stand out amongst the mostly farming crowd who had turned out to listen to the mayoral candidates make their speeches.   
  
Clark followed his gaze.   
  
"He lives here too Dad."   
  
"It's not his home, Son" Jonathan replied sharply. "Don't think of it like that – he's here until he's gotten what he and his father came for, and then he's gone."   
  
Clark turned away from him rather than pursue the argument. Instead he looked to his mother. "I'll catch up with you guys back at the truck afterwards –Kay?"   
  
Without really waiting for a response, Clark started making his way towards Lex, seemingly ignorant of the disapproving glance that followed him from his father. His attention was more then taken up just trying to make his way across the street - he had to dodge two old ladies and was almost there when ten-year-old Tommy suddenly grabbed his sleeve.   
  
"Thanks for the help Clark - I got a great mark"   
  
Clark paused, smiling down at the boy whom he had tutored.   
  
"Glad that studying paid off" It hadn't taken much of Clark's time, and he could tell it made a real difference to the boy. Tommy had always been a little different, speaking in rhyme since the meteor's time. Clark nodded at the boy's two beaming parents and kept on going. Speech impediments were nothing new to Smallville though, least not since the meteor. There was that other boy in Tommy's class who could only speak in metaphors and a girl who would only quote cheesy 1970 sitcoms.   
  
Clark finally made it to Lex as the first speaker began.   
  
"What are you doing here?" He asked quietly, just as curious as his father had been.   
  
"Hey I can vote, can't I? I pay taxes. More taxes" he mused "then probably the rest of the town put together." Lex paused for a second before hastily adding "but that's not the real reason"   
  
"Ok, I'll bite – what's the 'real' reason?"   
  
Lex looked intently at Clark, one hand reaching out to grasp his arm. "Clark" he said seriously. "I care. I care about the issues, the people, and this town."   
  
Clark grinned down at Lex. "Whatever"   
  
Lex looked chastened, "You wound me, you really do."   
  
"Lex-" Clark began.   
  
"Shhh non-voter… I'm trying to listen."   
  
" … water – that large concern in the area in which we live – I will deal with that …." A tall, slightly stooped man was speaking with a strange accent into the megaphone, addressing the crowd. Lex listened for a moment, tilting his head comically.   
  
"Clark, is there something weird with the way he talks? What's that accent?"   
  
"No accent - No 'S's'"   
  
"What?"   
  
"No S's" Clark explained "Ever since the meteor shower, he can't use the letter S. It's a mystery. He's adapted."   
  
"… The great town in which we live, which we all know the name of, will be bettered by my winning…."   
  
Lex and Clark listened in silence for a few more moments. "Well, mostly he's adapted" Clark amended.   
  
"Who's he running against?"   
  
Clark pointed at the short, round, bald man. "Jim Burns is our current mayor, and running for re-election."   
  
"There's only two candidates? Not much of a race if you ask me."   
  
Clark shrugged. "Well there was a third, Elliot Peabody was supposed to be in the running, but no one has seen him since last Sunday at the market. So that leaves Mr. Burns and Mr. Peterson".   
  
"Another person has gone missing? What does that make, three in the last month? Doesn't that seem a little high to you?"   
  
"I guess, I think the sheriff has an investigation underway and there's not much we can do." Clark responded looking back to the podium as the candidate's speech hit on exactly their topic.   
  
"…and I give full…backing to the wonderful police work of our local…law enforcement leader. I vow to you all that we will correctly determine what occurred and bring the guilty party to trial."   
  
"there really is no S." Lex commented.   
  
"Told you so"   
  
+++++++++   
  
The Mayor headed back to his small farm where he had a modest house with one small acre that he used to grow corn, mostly unsuccessfully. He entered through the back door, taking a quick glance at his sorrowful looking corn, before heading in doors and pouring himself a shot of whiskey. With a sigh of content he plunked himself down in his favorite well-worn armchair as he reflected on the election platform. He had done well, he knew, but he also knew that Mr. Peterson was a threat and not an opponent to be taken lightly. Throwing his head back, he tossed back the shot and quickly rose to pour himself another one. As unfortunate as it was, he was lucky that Mr. Peabody had disappeared; he had been his biggest threat. It was strange, he reflected as he sat down once again, this time savoring his drink, the timing of the farmer's disappearance. He glanced around the room, remembering that night when he had come back home disappointed and worried. He had seen Mr. Peabody at the market that day, turning heads and in his mind, votes too. He had began to really worry about losing this election. He remembered vaguely yelling Mr. Peabody's name and cursing him, but the rest of that night was a blur, and he recalled nothing more until waking up in his armchair the next morning, an empty bottle of vodka on the floor beside him.   
  
Reflecting on that night for the first time he realized that he remembered something else as well. He had felt a draft later on in the night and had woken to find the window open, something he hadn't remembered doing and just before he shut it, he remembered hearing a strange sound coming from the corn - but he had been too tired, too drunk, to do anything about it.   
  
Clark had allowed Lex to drive him home, asking him to stop at the end of the driveway to let him out. Lex had only given him a look and had said, "Parent's still aren't fond of me hey?"   
  
Clark didn't know how to answer that and decided to focus on opening the car door instead. As he was shutting it behind him, Lex leaned over and asked something that had apparently been on his mind since the election speeches.   
  
"Doesn't it bother you- what's going on around here?"   
  
Clark looked down at Lex, "meaning what?"   
  
"What's going on with all the disappearances. It's strange."   
  
"It's not that strange" Clark protested weakly. "People disappear all the time"   
  
"Clark- this isn't Metropolis – this is Smallville. Where would they disappear to?"   
  
"People here are like people everywhere else Lex"   
  
Lex paused for a moment, giving Clark a moment to absorb what he just said.   
  
"I think we both know that isn't true."   
  
"I meant" Clark tried again "It's up to the police, we'd just be interfering. Why are you so interested in this anyway?"   
  
"Isn't the desire to protect the innocent people of this beautiful town enough? Remember Clark," Lex dropped his voice before intoning "I care. I care about Truth, Justice, and the American way."   
  
"Lex" Clark's voice in contrast held a bit of a warning. "I know you. Selfless and caring are not two words that come quickly to mind when I think of you."   
  
"You think about me?" Lex asked playfully, giving Clark a chance to pull a face in response before continuing. "Look, I just don't like things going on that I don't know about. What could it hurt to pay a visit to a couple of farms? Come on."   
  
Maybe it was Clark's enthusiasm to uncover mysteries, maybe it was his desire not to see anyone else go missing, or maybe it was his stomach complaining that he was already late for dinner – but whatever the reason, he agreed to meet him at Mr. Peabody's farmhouse early the next morning.   
  
+++++   
  
Lex was already looking around the Peabody farm when Clark arrived the next morning. Glancing at Clark through an open window of the house, Lex called out to him, "You're a little late aren't you?"   
  
Clark looked over at Lex, appalled that he was inside the house. "Lex, I don't know what people it Metropolis call breaking and entering, but here we call it illegal."   
  
"Relax Clark, he's gone, the house hasn't been lived in for the last three days and the police have already carried out their investigation. What's the harm in looking around? Besides it wasn't like it was really locked or anything." With that Lex's head disappeared inside the house and after a few seconds reappeared in the front door. "You can take that horrified look off your face Clark. You don't have to come in here and besides I'm done looking around the house. Let's take a look around the property."   
  
The two boys headed into the barns and sheds looking around for any clue as to what may have happened to the farmer. After searching the few buildings on the property, they ended up standing back in front of the house looking out over the cornfield. Clark was just about to call it quits when Lex called him over to the edge of the corn.   
"Look at this," Lex said as he pointed to the ground, "there's an imprint of a boot in the dirt."   
  
"So?" Clark asked, "that could have been made at any time. That doesn't mean that it was Mr. Peabody's last steps."   
  
Lex shook his head "Don't you remember that storm three nights ago? Any other footprint would have been washed away, this one would had to have been made then." Lex entered the tightly planted cornfield, and almost immediately disappeared from view. "Come on, let's see where it leads."   
  
"Sure - cause maybe it will lead us to Mr. Peabody," Clark grumbled mostly to himself "who accidentally walked into his field in a thunderstorm and has been waiting for someone to find him since. Lex, you really are a genius! Wow, how you solve these mysteries, is a mystery in itself!"   
  
Lex head popped back out of the field. "It's too early in the morning for that much sarcasm Clark. Come on, it's not going to hurt us to look around the field." Lex vanished again, and after a pause, Clark followed.   
  
They walked through the field, pushing the corn out of their way in their attempt to follow any footprints they could find. Lex was intent on discovering where they led, while Clark more intent on looking around, glancing at the sky, buildings in the distance, and the tops of the corn. It was while he was doing this that he felt something odd. He stopped for a moment and looked around, but not seeing anything he continued. Lex had managed to get a bit ahead of him and he moved to catch up, but stopped once again as he felt something strange. It was as if there was another presence in the field besides Lex and him and it didn't feel like Mr. Peabody. Clark glanced around again, but all he could see was acres of corn. He was looking so intently that he inadvertently triggered his x-ray vision and began scanning the corn, it was then that he realized that there might have been inadvertent truth beneath his early sarcasm. Up ahead, not fifty feet in front of Lex, lay Mr. Peabody.   
  
Clark jogged and caught up to Lex just as he had discovered the body himself. They looked at each other before kneeling down for a closer, more disgusting, look. They discovered strange markings on his face and neck and it appeared that the cause of death was from smothering. Mr. Peabody's rifle lay clutched in his hands, not a single shot fired, and there were no other footprints around the body. Clark and Lex were both puzzled.

++++   
  
Clark and Lex had been waiting in the Sheriff's office for the past 30 minutes trying to explain why they had been at the Peabody farm and where exactly they had discovered the body. The sheriff had left to investigate, leaving instructions for the boys to wait for his return. After he left, Clark turned to Lex and asked, "Did you hear what the sheriff had said? That one of the other missing persons, Jack Turner, was found in his field yesterday afternoon. Cause of death was lack of oxygen to the brain. Do you know what this means?"   
  
"Yeah, they should look for the other missing person in their field. I'm not going back" Lex was studying his ruined leather shoes with disgust.   
  
"Lex I'm being serious – I think they're all connected. There's someone out there murdering these people. What's the connection between the 3 people? What do we know about them?"   
  
Lex finally looked up from his shoes. "So now you agree there is something odd going on?"   
  
Clark flushed slighty "Do you need me to say it?"   
  
"I always need people to say it."   
  
"Ok Lex" Clark stared intently up at the ceiling " you were right. Ok?"   
  
Lex just smirked. "Ok – here is how I see it - there's Elliot Peabody, a farmer running for mayor, who most seem to like. He lives alone, and ever since the meteoroid shower, has 6 fingers on his hand. Jack Turner has a wife and two kids, he lives and works full time on a farm next to Mr. Burns. The third missing person is Alice Whiteman who was the local librarian and town historian, who basically knew everything about this town and its people. So there must be a connection between these three; we're just going to have to figure it out." Lex concluded just as Patrick, the sheriff's deputy entered the room.   
  
"Time, it is, to go. Occupied, the sheriff, he is. Testimony, will he hear from you later. Trouble, stay out of, he commands. Day, have a nice one."   
  
Lex gave Clark a puzzled look before getting up to leave. When they had left the police station, Lex turned to Clark, "You know, I really haven't gotten used to how weird this town is."   
  
Clark gave a slight frown. "I'm worried"   
  
"I'd be too – what if there is another meteriod … how much weirder could it get? "   
  
"No, I mean – I mean about this …. after finding Peabody, it makes this a whole thing a lot different. There's a possible murderer on the loose and that's something that needs to be investigated."   
  
"Ah, thanks Clark, I kinda thought that that was what we were doing. I know you are new at this and I don't want to rush you, but collecting clues and looking at crime scenes for evidence is called 'investigating'." Lex lowered his fingers still in the shape of the quote sign and tiring of hassling Clark, he grew serious, "There isn't a possible murderer, there is a definite killer. Both bodies were found to be lacking oxygen, basically smothered to death and I could almost bet that Mrs. Whiteman will turn up with the same prognosis."   
  
"So…"   
  
"Isn't it obvious? We find Mrs. Whiteman." Lex declared as he headed over to his car. Clark stifled a groan as he had a sinking suspicion that what that meant was being even later for chores while they roamed through fields. However reluctantly, he followed Lex into his car as they took off to Mrs. Whiteman's small house in the center of town.   
  
Arriving a few short, very fast, minutes later, Clark couldn't help pointing out, "So Lex, where's your theory now, should we look in her planter box?" Lex didn't comment on Clark's remark. Instead he sat for a moment gazing at the house. Two other houses with less than 4 feet between them bordered the small cement house. There was barely enough room for her potted plants, let alone for a cornfield. After reflecting for a while, Lex shifted his car into reverse and headed out.   
  
"Where are we going?"   
  
"We've checked her home, now let's check where she worked. We're heading to the library."   
  
Clark and Lex had been at the library separately for about an hour before Clark began to wonder where Lex had gone. Getting up from the desk he had been sitting at with a stack of books, he began looking around for him. As he walked around a set of shelves he noticed that the Librarian's office door was open. Peeking in, he was shocked to find Lex bent over files on the desk.   
  
"Lex!"   
  
"What" Lex asked without even looking up and then, "Clark, come over here and take a look at this."   
  
"No, Lex you've gone too far. How did you get into this room? It was locked when we got here."   
  
"I had the key."   
  
"You had the key?"   
  
"I had a type of key. A key is something that is used to unlock things. Well I unlocked the door with a 'key'".   
  
"Let me see this key".   
  
Lex, who still hadn't looked up, raised his hand, producing a paperclip, "the key. Now are you going to look at these or not?"   
  
"Not, and you should come out of there before someone sees you." Clark glanced around uneasily and began to move away from the door so that he wouldn't be connected to anything that Lex was doing.   
  
"Alright Clark, if you don't want to know who murdered Mr. Peabody, Mr. Turner, and Mrs. Whiteman, then I'll just see you tomorrow."   
  
Although Clark had all his morals in the right place, he could still be persuaded now again to cross some of his lines and now was one of those occasions. "You've figured it out?" he asked in disbelief still hanging in the doorway. "Who?"   
  
"Our friend Mrs. Whiteman was a town historian right?"   
  
"Right" Clark responded, inching into the room.   
  
"She seems to have quite a bit of history on," Lex said as he lifted up the book he was reading and spun it around for Clark to see, "Mayor Burns."   
  
"What kind of history?" Clark was now fully in the room and looking over Lex's shoulder.   
  
"It seems that the mayor had a small incident a few years ago. According to this newspaper clipping the mayor was found swimming naked in the town's pool. After being pulled out it was discovered that he was intoxicated. It also seems that there were some interesting pictures taken of this event." Lex picked up the pictures that had been inserted into the journal and held them out for Clark to see, turning them around to different angles.   
  
"Yeah those are rather revealing…but how does that make the Mayor the murderer?"   
  
"Clark, don't you get cable yet?"   
  
Clark opted not to answer until he could tell where Lex was going with this.   
  
"It's called blackmail" Lex explained "and I bet that Mrs. Whiteman was holding these pictures over his head."   
  
"But why would Mrs. Whiteman want to blackmail him?"   
  
"Well in addition to looking at these wonderful pictures I have also been doing some interesting reading. In one of Mrs. Whiteman's journals, she writes about a 'torrid' romance that she had with him. I guess it ended badly with some hurtful feelings between them. This may have been the reason for blackmail. The one thing that I can't figure out is why she didn't blackmail him when he ran the first time."   
  
"She wasn't here."   
  
"What?"   
  
"She wasn't here," Clark repeated, "Mrs. Whiteman left Smallville for two years and in that time Mr. Burns ran and was elected as mayor."   
  
"Well that explains everything," Lex closed up the journal and rose from his seat.   
  
"Wait Lex. How is he responsible for the other two?"   
  
"Ok, Clark if I have to spell this one out, that's pretty sad, so think about it for second." Lex threw this out over his shoulder as he headed out the door.   
  
Clark stood for a moment behind the desk before running after Lex. He caught up to him at the car and yelled, "Ok, ok, I've got it. You think that the mayor is getting rid of his competition."   
  
"Uh huh"   
  
"So that explains Mr. Peabody's death. Jack Turner…"   
  
"…is Mr. Burns' neighbor, "Lex finished, "and they have been on unfriendly terms since their land dispute. Not much of a motive, but definitely something there."   
  
"So we head to the Sheriff's department?"   
  
"So we head to Mr. Burns' farm." Lex corrected as he shifted into first and headed back onto the road, taking a second to turn on the car's headlights as the last of the sun disappeared.   
  


++++ 

It was twilight when Mr. Peterson decided that he was ready for bed. His family had headed up over an hour ago, but he had lingered in order to catch up on some reading. Finished, he rose out of his chair and stretched, tossing the paperback behind him. He began heading for the stairs, but feeling thirsty, he changed his mind at the last second and entered the kitchen. Pulling a glass out from the cupboard he began to fill his cup at the sink, glancing out the window in front of him as he waited. He couldn't see much, but something didn't look right. Turning off the tap and narrowing his eyes, he peered out into the darkness, just able to make out his corn crops.   
  
+++   
  
Mayor Burns had been dosing by his fire, glass slipping out of his relaxing fingers when he heard the knock on his door. The knock repeated twice before he was sufficiently awake enough to answer it. Clark Kent and the outsider Lex Luther were standing on his porch stoop.   
  
"Yes?" and then remembering that he needed votes, "Can I help you boys?"   
  
"We'd like to talk to you if that's alright." Clark answered as Lex had already moved into the house.   
  
"Ah yes, of course," Mr. Burns responded, being forced back as Lex entered, and then remembering that Clark wasn't of voting age he added, "but you'll have to be quick, I'm heading for bed."   
  
The three of them walked into the sitting room. Mr. Burns motioned to the couch before taking a seat in his armchair. Clark sat down, but Lex remained standing, looking around the room.   
  
+++   
  
Mr. Peterson had already put on his jacket and boots, deciding that he should take a quick look outside before going to bed. He didn't think he would sleep very easily if he didn't check outside. His livelihood, like many in Smallville, relied upon his yearly crop yield. Last year had been particularly bad and so he didn't want to take any chances this close to harvest. Securing his baseball cap onto his head and grabbing a nearby flashlight, he walked out into the night to give his property a once over, like any good farmer would.   
  
+++   
  
"What do you know about Mr. Peabody, Mr. Turner, and Mrs. Whiteman?" Lex wasn't one for beating around the bush; he got straight to the point.   
  
Mr. Burns was surprised at this question and stared at Lex a moment before answering, "It's very sad. All we can hope is that Mrs. Whiteman is alright and will be found soon."   
  
Again Lex was straightforward, "Don't give that false concern, you killed them!"   
  
"Lex!" Clark, surprised, half rebuked and half pleaded. "I'm sorry Mr. Burns, but what he meant was there seems to be a connection to you on all three. We were wondering if maybe you could…"   
  
"You might as well confess," Lex jumped in, "if we figured it out, the police will too."   
  
Mr. Burns had been sitting open mouthed since Lex's first accusation and now he finally found his voice, "Well I never! I…you couldn't mean…I have had nothing to do with any of these occurrences. It's a coincidence that I happen to have a link between them, but this is Smallville, everyone is connected to everyone else in one way or another. No! It's not me!"   
  
"You expect us to believe that?" Lex looked extremely doubtful.   
  
"Yes!"   
  
Clark was beginning to have doubts about their conclusions, and Lex's odd behavior as well. They had just come to a suspected killer's farmhouse, at night, without telling anyone what they had discovered, and started accusing him. No, not the smartest move.   
  
"Lex." Clark cut in, "just hold off a second."   
  
"Ok, Mr. Burns, do you have any ideas on who might have done it?"   
As Clark took over questioning, Lex moved over to the window and looked out into the night.   
  
+++   
  
Mr. Peterson had checked the barns and sheds and was now looking out over the corn. He had been standing there for some time, something did not look right. The corn seemed fuller than he remembered it being and it almost seemed to sway rhythmically, back and forth, back and forth. He took a step closer, squinting.   
  
+++   
  
"Didn't you have a corn crop?"   
  
"Pardon?"   
  
"Didn't you have a corn crop?" Lex repeated as he stared out the window.   
  
"Still do, why?"   
  
Lex turned and looked back into the room and into Mr. Burn's face, "and the corn would be where exactly?"   
  
"In the field," Mr. Burns replied. Now out of the direct line of accusation, he was getting annoyed, "where else would it be."   
  
"Would you care to point this corn out to me?"   
  
With an exasperated sigh, the mayor got up out of his chair and walked over to the window, "it's right…what the?"   
Where his corn once had been, there was nothing but overturned soil. Grabbing nothing, he ran past the boys and out into his yard, stopping where his corn used to begin. Clark and Lex had followed and stood behind him. "It was right here. I don't believe this."   
  
"Believe what?" Lex asked skeptically, thinking that the mayor had maybe been drinking.   
  
"Someone's stolen my corn!"   
  
"Someone's stolen your corn?" Lex's tone was even more skeptical, "Does this happen often?"   
  
"I'm serious!"

Mr. Peterson had walked into the corn about 50 yards before he heard the first sound coming from his right. Turning quickly, he flashed the light onto the corn. There was nothing. He took a step forward but another sound this time to his left, grounded him. He turned the light in this new direction. He could see the tops of the corn, but nothing else. He stared and began to notice that the rhythmical swaying of the crops almost looked like…but no, that was ridiculous. "But then again" he thought as he peered at it, it really did look like the corn was walking.   
  
+++   
  
The three men looked out over the Mayor's empty field, scanning for any sign of what may have happened. There was not one piece of corn on the ground. As they were straining to see anything, Clark, with superior vision, saw the body.   
  
"Look!" He shouted, beginning to jog out into the field, the others following him. It didn't take them long to reach the body or to identify it as Mrs. Whiteman.   
  
"Well Mr. Burns, can you explain this?" Lex asked, noticing that the librarian had the same strange markings on her body as Mr. Peabody had.   
  
"I…I…oh Alice." The mayor bent down over her while Clark and Lex just looked at each other.   
  
+++   
  
He felt surrounded; the corn seemed to be closing in on him. Panicking, he began tearing at it and ripping it, trying to break free. He had been right, the corn had been moving and now he could feel the roots wrapping around his arms, his legs. He couldn't move, all he could do was…   
  
+++   
  
"Did you hear that?" It was a rhetorical question. Not one of them had missed the scream that echoed out over the fields.   
  
"It sounds like it came from a few fields over." The mayor added looking in the direction it came from, "Maybe Mr. Conner's or Mr. Peterson's farms."   
  
"Mr. Peterson?" Lex asked disbelieving, "Your only competition left in the mayoral race?"   
  
"Well, yes…but I"   
  
"Come on, let's go."   
  
They took off at a jog, figuring it would be quicker to hop the fences then take the roads that wind around the properties. They arrived at the farm 20 minutes later where a crowd had already begun to form. Mrs. Peterson was weeping on her neighbor's shoulder and they could make out the distant sound of a siren.   
  
"What happened here?" The mayor asked one of the bystanders.   
  
"Mrs. Peterson found her husband dead in his field tonight. She had heard him scream and raced outside only to find his body. She's having a hard time of it."   
  
The mayor, Lex and Clark all looked at each other in disbelief. Lex trying to grasp that the mayor was not the one responsible for the murders, Clark upset that they weren't able to do anything, and the mayor realizing that all of his competition had been knocked out. He was getting worried that more than a couple of boys would begin connecting these murders with him. Realizing that they weren't going to be much help, they waited around for the ambulance to take Mr. Peterson away, before heading back to the mayor's house.   
  
They were a quiet bunch, heading back through the fields, no one had anything to say. It wasn't until they were in sight of Mr. Burn's farm that Lex grabbed Clark's arm and stopped their group.   
  
"What?" Clark asked, looking at Lex.   
  
"I don't believe it. That's not possible."   
  
Clark was puzzled, and turned to see what had so fixated Lex. At first, nothing seemed out of the ordinary, the house was just as they had left it - porch light on, cars in the driveway, the corn behind the house.   
  
"The corn." Clark could only breath the words. Where less than an hour ago there had been nothing in his fields, there now stood his entire corn crop, as if it had always been there.   
  
"What the…" The mayor was stunned. They were all stunned. No one could believe what he was seeing. Slowly, they began walking again, all the while staring at the corn, thinking that at any moment it would disappear again. But as they approached the house, the corn had still not disappeared and remained quite stoic in the wind that had picked up. They walked over to the edge of the field and looked into it.   
  
The strangeness of the whole thing and the still insistent voice in his head saying that the mayor was key to this whole mystery led Lex to turn on him.   
  
"What have you done? There's more to this then you are telling us." Lex beginning to get angry, grabbed the mayor roughly by the collar.   
  
"I…I …dddon't know," he stammered, unable to control the fear rising in him, "honest, I don't know what is happening!"   
  
At this point Clark interfered and pulled Lex back from him, "Lex, he's been with us for the last hour or so, we know he didn't kill Mr. Peterson and as for his crops…well I don't know, but I think he's telling the truth."   
  
Lex glared at the mayor for a second longer before looking at Clark and knowing that he was right. He knew he had overreacted. Stepping to the side, and attempting to calm down, he looked at the corn once again and noticed that it had now begun to sway in the wind. Deciding that maybe he should take a closer look, he began to inch into the field. When the corn had started swaying, Clark had begun to feel that same presence that he had felt in Mr. Peabody's field, only ten times stronger. He pulled on Lex's arm, "you shouldn't go in there, something doesn't feel right."   
  
"Relax Clark," Lex shrugged him off, "I'll only take a look," and with that he headed into the field. Clark looked at the mayor briefly before stepping into the field after Lex. Almost as soon as he had put a foot into the field, he was forced to step back again. He had suddenly felt weak. Looking at Lex's disappearing back through the shifting corn, Clark began to have a suspicion that seemed absurd even to him, yet he couldn't shake it. Taking one last look at Lex, and knowing he couldn't enter the field on foot, Clark hurried off towards the barn.   
  
Lex had gotten about halfway into the small cornfield when he began to get nervous. He decided that maybe entering a disappearing cornfield at night, when four people had been found dead in them was not such a hot idea. He began to hurry back, when a rustling noise to his right froze him on the spot. Turning slowly, not really wanting to see what it was, but unable to resist the urge to look he glanced over his shoulder to where it came from. He could see the tops of corn, but nothing else. He continued on, walking even faster. He was still about 40 yards from the end of the field when all of a sudden, his foot snagged on a root and he tripped. Attempting to rise quickly, he rose to his knees, but was unable to get any higher, as a corn tendril snaked around his arm, holding him in place. Frantically, he pulled at the stock, shredding it in his rush to break free. Succeeding, he rose to his feet only to find another tendril had worked it's way around his ankles, locking him in place. He began to reach down again, when his arms were snagged. Held in place in this way, he had clear view of the corn in front of him that was now moving toward him. Letting out a scream, he tugged at his bonds. The corn was all around him, he couldn't break free, leaves, husks, were all pushing against him. Part of the corn was now over his face, he couldn't breath. He was at the point of blacking out when a loud noise could be heard, followed by squeals of pain. He managed to open his eyes and weak as he was, could still muster some surprise at the sight that lay in front of him. Clark was seated in a large harvest combine machine and was hacking his way through the corn. The squeals were coming from the corn as the large machine ripped them up. Lex could feel the corn loosening its hold and took the opportunity to break free. With one fluid motion, he had leapt up onto the massive tractor and seated himself safely behind Clark.   
Clark began heading out of the field when he felt Lex's hand on his shoulder,   
  
"Let's finish this." Lex yelled into his ear as he motioned at the rest of the field. Without much prodding, Clark turned the enormous tractor back into the field and unceremoniously bit into the rest of the field. It was all over within half an hour. The corn was destroyed.   
  
  
Excerpt from the Smallville Gazette   
  
…It appears that the mystery behind the deaths of Mr. Peabody, Mr. Peterson, Mr. Turner and Mrs. Whiteman has been solved. Authorities attribute the deaths to suffocation by a mutated corn crop. Apparently there were large deposits of an unknown green substance in Mayor Burns' field, which reacted with the compounds in his fertilizer to cause this mutation. The corn that then grew on this field was excessively devoted to Mr. Burns, as well as being unusually mobile. The Sheriff's department has released a statement absolving Mr. Burns from any type of criminal activity as it was decided that he should not be held responsible for the actions of his corn. All precautions are being made to prevent this from happening again in the future. It is hoped that this is the last Smallville will see of the enemy known as the Killer Corn Crop of Kansas.

The end.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read it and I would love any feedback you could give me. 

Remember to stay away from the corn whenever you are in kansas! 

Kit

Kit_ck@hotmail.com


End file.
